Shield Vulnerability

[Daniel L.]

A quick note, I haven't been on this forum for nearly a year, and I haven't played Starmade for nearly as long. My interest has only been recently rekindled, and I'm currently catching up.

One problem that shields do create (as much as I love them) is that it becomes impossible for a little fighter with a pea-shooter to do any damage to a gigantic titan. In my opinion, even the weakest weapons should be able to do something provided that their user is skilled enough to hit between the cracks.

Therefore, I suggest this: in order to use a shield-generator, the block must be exposed to space. Meaning that at least one side of the block must be completely clear of blocks (exposed to open space) -- small gaps don't count. Also, the shield must not be capable of shielding itself. Something like this can be seen in the Star Wars franchise, where the Star Destroyer's shield-generators are large, exposed structures that can be taken out by an X-Wing's weapons, thus de-shielding the Star Destroyer.

What this means, is that there's always the possibility that the shield generators of your ship can get hit and destroyed. Of course, any skilled ship-builder can design their vessels in a manner that can mostly nullify such a weakness (such as by placing the shield-emitters at the bottom of a long, open shaft where shots are unlikely to travel far before hitting a wall); but it still wouldn't make "lucky shots" impossible (beams might be preferable for such a feat).

What this means for combat, of course, is that even the simplest of tiny craft can still pose a threat to larger craft. In fact, the threat scales up with ship size, as bigger ships might lack the maneuverability to prevent smaller ships from getting a good aim at the shield-generators (Frigates and Corvettes, for example, wouldn't experience such problems; whereas a bigass Titan would be highly vulnerable.). This would also give point-defense systems like rapid-fire cannons and beams greater purpose, as it might be necessary to shoot down lots of little ships that be capable of dodging slower weapons.

Of course, sniping out the shields of a large ship shouldn't be something AI is capable of. Instead, it should be absolutely necessary for factions to put real pilots in the cockpits of their fighters.

Long story short: Shield generators should be placed on the exterior of a ship, and be exempt from the protection by shields; making it thus possible (though unlikely in most situations) for somebody to pull a Luke Skywalker and snipe your shields out.

I look forward to opinions.

 

[Mork2]

At the moment with weapons 2.0 the missile/missile combination makes a large area effect bomb that travels in the same direction and speed of the launching craft when fired. It takes a second or two to arm and will detonate if anything touches it including the launching craft. This weapon ignores shields like the explosive blocks but can be repeatedly launched with the missile regeneration. Note the massive 50 or 55second reload time makes for lots of damage and with the new point defence mechanics and their damage they might not be easy to destroy let alone when a stealth ship drops cloak at short range to launch them. That is your anti-capital fighter sized weapon, that capitals can't use well with the limited speed and turning rate.

I've read a number of forum posts saying that shields don't regen during combat like they use to so you can chip away at the shields and not have them regenerating at 25% combat level like the old shield system. Also depending on how the shields are setup due to shield grouping some might be weaker than others unless they made a shield globe big enough to cover the entire ship.

 

[OfficialCoding]

no this idea is really not good. this is not how Starmade was designed, and i think a bunch of players (including me) would quit if a single shot could destroy your 15 million credit ship. Battles should be titan v titan. those are fun.

 

[petlahk]

Note the massive 50 or 55second reload time

Currently the missile regen time is practically 2-2.5 seconds. But several of us think it would be better if it were raised up closer to a full minute. With that said, the devs might just have the reload time low in the current build to keep it easy to test damage and the weapons, ect...

no this idea is really not good. this is not how Starmade was designed, and i think a bunch of players (including me) would quit if a single shot could destroy your 15 million credit ship. Battles should be titan v titan. those are fun.

While a single shot from a 4:4 system can destroy a large portion of a ~150 block long ship It is very important to remember that it's very difficult to hit with one of these things going at speed, even if your ship is far smaller than the opposing ship. To be able to hit something with it you have to accurately judge your speed and vector in relation to the enemy ship and hope that the enemy ship doesn't change it's speed and vector either.

The simplest way for a large ship to counter a fired missile weapon is to probably just slow down and pivot toward the opposite direction the missile weapon was fired from.

And, depending on how you built your armor on your ship it might prove more difficult to destroy than you might think.

 

[Pacific_Jim]

This is as poor an idea as it always has been, smaller ships already have so many advantages. Recent changes to shielding already make it so your recharge rate under fire is nonexistent, which when you combine with the extra speed and mobility smaller ships get you can already theoretically beat any size ship if your good enough to stay in their blind spots. Smaller ships are also much more power efficient with regards to stabilizing the reactor, meaning you can field more firepower for less then with bigger ships.

And as mentioned above we now have a shield ignoring missile, which is mechanically better when launched from a smaller ship.